Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty First Indian Men’s Pair to Qualify for Badminton Asia Championships Final

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty make historic final of Badminton Asia Championships (Twitter Image)

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty make historic final of Badminton Asia Championships (Twitter Image)

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached the final of the Badminton Asia Championships, etching their names in history books

India’s top men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian duo since Dinesh Khanna in singles in 1965 to enter the final of the Badminton Asia Championships on Saturday.

The Indian duo sealed a spot in the summit clash after their opponents, the Tokyo Olympic champions Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin, retired midway through the second game of their semifinal clash.

The 22-year-old Satwiksairaj Rankireddy from Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh and the 25-year-old Mumbai-born Chirag Shetty had won the first game 21-18 and were going neck-and-neck with their Chinese Taipei opponents at 13-14 when Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin withdrew, giving them a walkover.

ALSO READ| Badminton Asia Championships 2023: PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy Progress, Kidambi Srikanth Ousted

The Indian duo had themselves assured a medal after 52 years in the men’s doubles category when they got the better of Indonesia’s experienced duo Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight games 21-11, 21-12 in the quarterfinals.

Chirag and Satwik are the lone Indians remaining in the fray in the Asian Championships after the other top players P.V. Sindhu, H.S. Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth lost in earlier stages in their respective sections.

India have thus far won only one gold in the Asian Championships since it was initiated in 1962 — the gold won by Dinesh Khanna in men’s singles in 1965.

ALSO READ| ‘Protest of the Conspirators’: WFI Chief Brij Bhushan Singh Prepared for Any Kind of Investigation

Satwik and Chirag will be hoping to bag the second gold for India in this mega event. Apart from the gold won by Dinesh Khanna, India have won 17 bronze medals in various categories in the Badminton Asia Championships since 1962.

Satwik and Chirag, who won the bronze medal in Men’s Doubles at the 2022 World Championships in Tokyo, have claimed two bronze medals in the Asian Team Championships (2016, 2020).

Whatever medal they win on Sunday will be the biggest medal in their career. The Indian duo have won five titles on the BWF World Tour and have twice finished runners-up.

Read all the Latest Sports News, Check Out Orange Cap and Purple Cap holder details here

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.